非洲奇蹟 南非溼地公園獲得保育補助

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and the World Bank Group have signed a US$9 million grant agreement to launch conservation activities in the UNESCO World Heritage site that contains Africa's largest estuary, Lake St Lucia. The name iSimangaliso means miracle and wonder in the Zulu language.

"The park is a major natural asset that has the potential to play an important role in fostering economic growth in the region," said Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority at the signing ceremony March 24.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has said, "iSimangaliso must be the only place on the globe where the oldest land mammal [the rhinoceros] and the world's biggest terrestrial mammal [the elephant] share an ecosystem with the world's oldest fish [the coelacanth] and the world's biggest marine mammal [the whale]."

The goal of the development, empowerment and conservation project in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park and surrounding regional area is to improve ecosystem functioning of the Lake St. Lucia and Umfolozi River System through restoration of key ecological processes while stimulating local economic development.

"The project is innovative because it combines conservation objectives with spatial development approaches for fostering local economic development," said project leader Paola Agostini, World Bank economist in the Africa region. "It is essential that the benefits must reach local people so that their energies can be mobilized for environmental protection."

Zaloumis said, "Our goal in the next five years is to meaningfully increase the flow of fresh water into Lake St. Lucia and move the park from being an underdeveloped tourism asset to a major territorial asset that will play an important role in the region's economic growth initiative."

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park was listed as South Africa's first World Heritage Site in December 1999 in recognition of its natural beauty and unique global values.

The area is home to the Swazi, Thonga and Zulu people, each expressing a distinct culture, language and customs, including 700 year old fishing traditions.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, formerly called the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, stretches 220 kilometers (136 miles) from Cape St. Lucia north to Mozambique and encompasses 14 distinct nature reserves.

The 332,000 hectare (1,281 square mile) park contains Africa's largest estuary system, three major lake systems, eight interlinking ecosystems, most of South Africa's remaining swamp forests, and 25,000 year-old coastal dunes that are among the highest in the world.

The park is inhabited by black and white rhinos, leopards, elephants, hippos and crocodiles, zebras and antelopes, 526 bird species and more than 3,000 plant types. Dolphins, humpback whales, sea turtles and some 250 fish species inhabit the coastal waters.

Condon called upon the local communities to "stop the approval of illegal development activities" and to keep people from trespassing into the state protected dune forest areas.

The illegal development dispute sites in the dune forest are within the designated protected area at both Bhanga Nek on Kosi Bay and farther south at Mabibi on Lake Sibaya.

Park officials also announced the investment of R125 million into its tourism product and an education program for local youths. Zaloumis said the program, which now supports 80 local entrepreneurs will be broadened and local young people will be empowered to become the park managers, CEOs and tourism entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Bursaries have been approved for eight students now registered with KwaZulu-Natal University and Durban University of Technology in fields related to tourism, conservation, development and financial management.